Trend--setter Multi

‘Honda’s CB500, too, was a landmark model. It offered four-cylinder motorcycling in a smaller, lighter, less powerful, and cheaper package— and set the format for middleweight multis that continues to this day’

- ROLAND BROWN

IT IS THE FIRST WARM AND SUNNY weekend of the year and the motorcyclists are out in a large number. The roads near one popular bikers' café, in particular, are aswarm with machines of all kinds, some of whose riders wave a brief greeting as they flash past travelling in the opposite direction.

I Most riders probably do not recognise the unfaired four-cylinder roadster coming the other way, but those astride Japanese middleweight fours, at least, have plenty of reason to acknowledge the CB500 that I am riding. This bike did not make the impact of Honda's legendary CB750 but it, too, was a landmark model.

It offered four-cylinder motorcycling in a smaller, lighter, less powerful, and cheaper package-and set the format for middleweight multis that continues to this day.

The "500-four" was certainly a hit when it was launched in 1971, two years after the CB750, thanks to a blend of performance and refined feel that arguably even the bigger model could not match. The American magazine, Cycle World, concluded, ...all told, the CB500 is, perhaps, the finest combination of superb engineering and deluxe features we have ever come across and praised the Honda's "virtually vibration-free performance, high cruising speed, spirited acceleration, good handling qualities, and excellent fuel economy". The testers also commented favourably on the new four's price, which was considerably lower than that of the CB750.

Much of the CB500's design was shared with the bigger bike, including the basic air-cooled SOHC engine layout and the sophisticated features such as an electric starter and single front disc brake that had made such an impression two years earlier. But there were some notable differences, too, including the 498-cc motor's vertical cylinders (the CB750's were angled forward), wet-sump lubrication system (instead of a separate oil tank), and its use of an inverted-tooth or "Hy-Vo" chain between crankshaft and gearbox.